Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson will become only the sixth man to play 200 A-League games on Sunday as he plays Wellington Phoenix.
The milestone was a little delayed after Melbourne Victory had to postpone their Brisbane Roar match last week thanks to cyclone warnings.
Thompson is the league’s all-time scoring leader with 84 goals, has played in two championship teams and was in the Socceroos 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.
“Reaching 200 games at a club is a massive achievement, but the thing that’s different with Archie is the contribution he’s made to the football club within those games,” Victory coach Kevin Muscat said.
“As he rightly states, he’s been involved in everything that’s been good at the club.”
Archie Thompson initially feared he’d made the wrong move in his football career when he returned from Belgium to play for Melbourne Victory.
But it gradually dawned on him that he’d taken a step backward to go forward.
“The standard and the level and the intensity weren’t there,” he said.
“In our code it’s very rare that you’re at one club for so long and I’m just grateful.
“It probably didn’t really hit home … until probably this week.
“Then I thought ‘this is a great achievement for myself’.”
Source: AAP